I haven't flown Etihad so can't comment on the quality of service but I have done a similar routing but from DUB rather than AMS with a stop in the UAE before flying on to South Africa. What I can comment on is flying 2x7/8hours flights back-to-back on a ME carrier versus a 1 hour flight followed by a 10.5 hour flight on BA/VS and I know which I prefer. I found the second leg of the ME carrier both tiring and boring. I was tired getting off the first leg and really didn't relish the second leg - and I usually love flying. With the BA/VS option, the first leg is so short that it really doesn't knock a feather out of you and after the second leg, at least your journey is over and you're not having to find your way around some ME airport.

Next week, having done DUB-DXB-DUR a couple of times, I'm flying ORK-LHR-JNB-DUR. I've one extra flight but I know I'll arrive earlier, quicker and more refreshed on this trip rather than the other.

honey lamb wrote:I haven't flown Etihad so can't comment on the quality of service but I have done a similar routing but from DUB rather than AMS with a stop in the UAE before flying on to South Africa. What I can comment on is flying 2x7/8hours flights back-to-back on a ME carrier versus a 1 hour flight followed by a 10.5 hour flight on BA/VS and I know which I prefer. I found the second leg of the ME carrier both tiring and boring. I was tired getting off the first leg and really didn't relish the second leg - and I usually love flying. With the BA/VS option, the first leg is so short that it really doesn't knock a feather out of you and after the second leg, at least your journey is over and you're not having to find your way around some ME airport.

Next week, having done DUB-DXB-DUR a couple of times, I'm flying ORK-LHR-JNB-DUR. I've one extra flight but I know I'll arrive earlier, quicker and more refreshed on this trip rather than the other.

+1 to that. I'd much rather have done one short / one long leg on our South Africa trip last year, and not just because the hard product EK offering on the DXB->South Africa legs is far less impressive than the London->DXB leg. But ultimately for me it was price wot won it.

If the two prices were closer, I'd have gone with VS/BA for sure. I was weighing up the options, but upon checking again today, the VS/BA fare had jumped up to £2.5k, and EY remained at £1.2k, so I booked EY. That's a pretty good deal, I think, for a J product from SA to EU, even if EY is going through similar 'enhancements' we're seeing elsewhere.

There was the occasional decent BA fare, btw, but my recent LHR-JNB trips on BA (A380s each time) have really not been good at all (shabby/stained seats, extremely slow service) so I was looking to avoid that routing.

I'm currently in China and for the 1st time I decided to try Qatar as I started my trip in Brussels.Lovely flight and cabin but how I hated getting off in Doha at midnight.2.5 hours of waiting to get back on.Pure hell and couldn't wait to put my bed down once on the HKG leg.Back to a direct VS/CX for me next time.

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